We made three attempts on the nighttime entertainment at DL.
First night - We picked what we thought was a decent spot behind a planter on the elevated area near IASW at about 7:40. Unfortunately some very inconsiderate people placed their children inside the planter and on top of the fencing around it in front of us, which almost completely blocked our view. The CM told them they couldn't do that before the parade started, but they just bounced back up there when it started. After the parade, we moved out into the area in front of IASW. This area took maybe five minutes to fill up and wasn't densely populated, like on Main Street. The projections were good on IASW and we had a great view of Matterhorn. Lots of spinning around to catch everything.
Second night - We got a yellow FP for Fantasmic! (They've switched up the areas again. I was aiming for what is now the blue area.) and got a nice spot behind a rock. The people in front of us sat on the rock, giving us an almost unobstructed view. We lined up at 7:55 for that. We watched the fireworks from that place. About half of the people left after F! and we moved to a fence position. The projections were good here, albeit wet. We saw all of the big fireworks, plus the low-level ones that they added just for us. We also had a glimpse of Tink, Nemo and Matterhorn. Although it was not all lined up, we didn't have to move much to see each element, and caught many of them in sync. We then proceeded immediately toward main street. We were forced to go through Adventureland. We had to explain to a CM that we weren't trying to exit, and then picked out a spot on a curb to catch the late parade near Plaza Inn. This was great, except for the kids that kept worming their way onto the curb in tiny gaps. We always start with more real estate than we need and somehow end up squished.
Third night - We did some shopping in Emporium until half way through the first parade. Then we casually walked on the sidewalk toward the castle until we found a tiny spot behind some people inside the rope near the Penny Arcade and squeezed in. Immediately after the parade ended we moved into the street right near the Penny Arcade. This is a delicate procedure, because the four rows in front may or may not have a sense of urgency to move into the street. We had a great view of the castle, fireworks, Tink, Nemo and about a building's worth of projections on MS. The only thing missing was the Matterhorn. We then nabbed a spot on the curb between a garbage can and a post to wait for the late parade. The garbage can/post thing prevented us from being squished and stepped on, but for some odd reason we became a pathway for people to step from the street to the sidewalk. We had to guard our belongings from being stepped on as they walked through. I'm sure they couldn't see them in the dark.
Our takeaway from this is that the crowds pre- and post- first parade are INSANE. Stay for the second one for the best viewing without spending hours guarding your spot. Also, balloons can be an annoyance during the fireworks if people forget to pull them down.
